we were born in dirt fields
in blinding sun
aluminum siding only exacerbating the heat

after minimum wage and prison sentences
those of us still lazy enough to sit inside during the day
went on to community colleges, state schools, and federal grants

learning fast to take what we could get,
we were ill-equipped to argue grades or bureaucracies or medium-rare steaks
and when we did fight, it was only out of the innate resentment that comes from being born in purgatory